Hope College will host hundreds of academicians from around the state and beyond during the 2003 meetings of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, which will be held at the college on Friday- Saturday, March 21-22.
Nearly 400 scholars have presentations scheduled for the two-day event. The meetings will cover 27 general fields, ranging from administration to zoology.
Dr. David Myers of the Hope psychology faculty will be the event's featured speaker. He will present "Twenty-Five Years of Professing Hope: Lessons I've Learned" during a luncheon on Friday, March 21.
Hope faculty and students will make a total of 21 presentations during the annual meetings. Hope scholars will discuss their research in botany and plant biology; economics; environmental science and ecology; French and Italian language and literature; geology; Germanic languages and literature; language and literature; library and information sciences; philosophy; and Spanish language, literature, and culture.
Highlights during the meetings will include a special geology session on the coastal dune complex along the southeastern coast of Lake Michigan. Dr. Ed Hansen of the Hope geology and environmental science faculty, who conducts research on sand dunes, has arranged for 16 specialists from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Canada and Colorado to share their insights about "The Geology and Geomorphology of the Lake Michigan Coast" on Friday, March 21. The symposium will be followed by a coastal field trip on Saturday, March 22.
The academy's meetings are open to the public. Registration is $75 for non-members, plus and additional $11 for those interested in the banquet, and may be paid onsite at the college's Maas Center on Friday, March 21, beginning at 7 a.m. The first sessions begin at 8 a.m.
Founded in 1894, the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters is a regional professional organization that facilitates scholarly exchange through annual meetings and a quarterly journal featuring papers and news about research at Michigan colleges and universities. The academy is housed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
More than half of the academy's current members are faculty and graduate students of supporting Michigan colleges and universities. Other members include independent scholars, scholars from other states, and people engaged in relevant research in business and government.
A total of 27 colleges and universities are institutional members of the Michigan Academy. In addition to Hope, the institutional members are: Adrian College, Albion College, Alma College, Andrews University, Calvin College, Central Michigan University, Concordia University, Cornerstone University, Cranbrook Institute of Science, Davenport University, Eastern Michigan University, Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Henry Ford Community College, Kalamazoo College, Lake Superior State University, Macomb Community College, Madonna University, Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University, Oakland University, Saginaw Valley State University, the University of Detroit Mercy, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.